Hohenzollern dynasty, dynasty prominent in European history, chiefly as the ruling house of Brandenburg-Prussia (1415–1918) and of imperial Germany (1871–1918). It takes its name from a castle in Swabia first mentioned as Zolorin or Zolre (the modern Hohenzollern, south of Tübingen, in the Land Baden-Württemberg). Burchard I, the first recorded ancestor of the dynasty, was count of Zollern in the 11th century. In the third and fourth generation from him two lines were formed: that of Zollern-Hohenberg, extinct in all its branches by 1486, and that of the burgraves of Nürnberg, from which all the branches surviving into modern times derived.

Hohenzollern Castle, Hechingen, Germany.

A. Kniesel

Take a tour of the Hohenzollern Castle, seat of the most notable dynasty in Germany’s history.

Frederick III of Zollern (d. c. 1200), husband of the heiress of the former burgraves of Nürnberg, himself became burgrave in 1192 as Frederick I. Between his two sons, Conrad and Frederick, the first dynastic division of lasting consequence took place: that between the line later known as Franconian (burgraves of Nürnberg, later electors of Brandenburg, kings in Prussia, kings of Prussia, German emperors) and the Swabian line (counts of Zollern, of Hohenzollern, of Zollern-Schalksburg, of Haigerloch, etc.; princes of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, princes of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, princes of Hohenzollern, princes and then kings of Romania). There is some doubt about the seniority of the Franconian and of the Swabian lines: was Conrad I, burgrave of Nürnberg, the elder son, or was Frederick IV of Zollern?

The Franconian acquisitions of the burgraves of Nürnberg began when Frederick III (d. 1297) got possession of Bayreuth, and his descendants acquired Ansbach and Kulmbach. For a long time this group of territories was more important to the dynasty than Brandenburg. Then Frederick VI was appointed margrave of Brandenburg in 1411 and elector, as Frederick I, in 1415.

The rise of the Brandenburg Hohenzollerns (who became Lutheran at the Reformation but turned to Calvinism in 1613) was accompanied by considerable acquisitions of territory in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries (seeBrandenburg). One of the most significant acquisitions was made by a junior member of the house in 1525—namely, the duchy of Prussia.

In 1701 the elector Frederick III of Brandenburg secured from the Holy Roman emperor Leopold I the title “king in Prussia.” The change to “king of Prussia” was not formally recognized until 1772, when Frederick the Great obtained it. The kings of Prussia retained their title of electors of Brandenburg until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. In 1871 William I of Prussia became German emperor. Both Prussian and German sovereignties were lost in 1918, at the end of World War I.

The Swabian line remained Catholic at the Reformation. It was in this line that the name Hohenzollern, as distinct from Zollern, first came into use—with Frederick IX. The Hechingen and Sigmaringen branches attained princely rank in 1623 but surrendered their sovereign status to Prussia in 1849. With the extinction of the Hechingen branch 20 years later, Charles Anton, head of the Sigmaringen, received the style prince (Fürst) von Hohenzollern, without territorial qualification. His second son, Charles, became prince of Romania in 1866 and king as Carol I in 1881; the candidature of the elder son, Leopold, for the Spanish throne had been one of the immediate causes of the Franco-German War of 1870–71. Leopold’s son, Ferdinand, succeeded his uncle in Romania in 1914, where his descendants, who were brought up in the Orthodox faith, ruled until 1947.

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Land (state), eastern Germany. The current territory of Brandenburg state occupies what were the east-central and eastern portions of former East Germany, extending east-west from the Oder and Neisse rivers to the Elbe region and north-south from the Mecklenburg lake district to lower Lusatia...

in Germany

The emergence of the Hohenzollerns of Prussia as rivals of the Habsburgs and the beginning of the Austro-Prussian dualism created the possibility of reversing the process of civic decentralization that had prevailed in Germany since the late Middle Ages. The interests of the territorial princes of the Holy Roman Empire inclined them toward a policy of particularism, while the government of...

...with their liberties. Wise rulers deflected the nobles’ energies into useful channels by employing them as stipendiaries. Hence even the most powerful princes—the Habsburgs in Austria and the Hohenzollerns in Brandenburg—proceeded circumspectly, and the difficult task of bringing the nobility to heel was far from completed in 1500. The cities of the princely territories defended...

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One of the most prominent ruling houses in the history of Europe, the Hohenzollern Dynasty played a major role in the history of Germany from the late Middle Ages until the end of World War I. The first known ancestor of the family was Burchard I, who was count of Zollern in the 11th century. By the third and fourth generations after Burchard, two branches of the family had formed. One, the Zollern-Hohenberg, became extinct by 1486. The other, originally the counts of Nuremberg, survived into the 20th century. The Nuremberg branch was further divided about 1200 into the Franconian and Swabian lines.